Islay

We are definitely making the most of our time here in Argyll. We did a cycle trip to Islay one weekend. Islay is one of Scotlands most famous islands because of its whisky. It has a popn of about 5000 people but 7 whisky distilleries.

The whisky from Islay has a strong, smokey flavour - the barley is dried slowly over a peat fire. Islay also has the largest % of alcoholics per head of popn in Scotland. Go figure!

Aye they do like a wee dram. Apparently a dram is not an exact measurement either, its just what someone sloshes into your glass....

Whiskey is the UKs 2nd biggest item of export. It makes 5 billion pounds in revenue a year. It also has a massive tax on it, more than other types of alcohol.

Anyway enough about whiskey. Islay (pron. Ila) is kind of u shaped. It sits next to Jura, which sits next to the Kintyre peninsula. To get to Islay you take a ferry at 7am (or 9.50 if you are like us and miss the first one) 2 hours later they drop you off at Port Ellen on the south-east coast.

Then you cycle like mad for 3km to get to Laphroaig distillery to the east, then a bit further on you get to Lagavulin distillery and then finally to Ardbeg. Next you place a quick phone call to ask Peter C which distillery we should go to (in a gloating voice..)

Jamie digging some peat

After that it was all a blur of flat roads, horizontal drizzle and wind, bent trees, sandy beaches and sore bums.

Ferry with Isle of Jura in the background

Don't get squeesed!